so many years, and the Word finding safe haven among its residents bolstered his lacking faith more than anything. Shaddai had truly been in complete control all along.
In the spiritual realm, Ethan crossed the remaining one hundred yards in a second. He reached out from the ethereal plane to grab both men by the brain. They both jerked upright. Ethan squeezed in such a way that both seized and fell unconscious.
Levi arrived panting a moment later. 'Let's get into their uniforms fast,' he said. Ethan reappeared and rolled one of the soldiers over, then began stripping off his armor. Levi did the same and soon they were dressed in the apparel of Mordred's army. 'How long will these two be out,' Levi asked.
'I'm not sure,' Ethan said. 'My guess is a good while-at least long enough that it shouldn't matter.'
Levi looked up at the white granite towering over them. 'We'd better get over the wall quickly and start making our way toward the palace.'
Ethan pointed to a place down the wall's perimeter. 'Those shadows there will be the best place to go over.'
Levi ran down the length of the wall until he came to the place. Ethan appeared in front of him, startling the captain. 'I wish you wouldn't do that,' he said.
'Sorry,' Ethan said, grinning. He disappeared again, then hoisted Levi into the air. He rose up the wall held by invisible hands. When they reached the top of the wall, two guards were busy patrolling.
Ethan tossed Levi at one of the men while he quickly silenced the other, still invisible. The first guard barely caught a glimpse of Levi before he tackled him from the air. The captain subdued the soldier, then saw Ethan appear again next to the other unconscious guard. He pointed toward the other side of the wall, then ran toward Levi, disappearing mid-stride.
Ethan seized the captain and carried him over the other side. They touched down on the ground in shadow and Ethan materialized next to his friend. 'Let's move before those guards are discovered.'
The pair began walking toward the white palace in the distance. Soon they had fully merged with other pedestrians making their way to their homes for supper or out to taverns for a night of debauchery. The armor allowed them to blend in perfectly. No one stopped or questioned them along the way to the palace.
Ethan tried to feel confident in their rescue plan, but he knew it was a long shot at best. Dung the rat had been working with the normal-sized rats in the area, and the dungeon had been located successfully. From there the plan became fairly straight forward. Ethan and Levi would provide a suitable diversion while Seth and Dung released Gideon and took him out through the tunnel the rats had excavated over the past two weeks.
Ethan watched Levi as he strode blissfully down the street through Emmanuel City. He had wanted to conduct the diversion part of the plan alone, but Levi wouldn't hear it, sighting Ethan's impetuous throne room fiasco. He rubbed the scars beneath his shirt. The wounds still ached now and then, reminding him not to rush ahead of the Lord.
At last, they saw great structures in the distance. 'There are the lodges built for the Anakim giants, Ethan,' Levi said. 'I knew as soon as I saw them the other day. Those things had to be built for them.'
Ethan surveyed the long wooden barracks which had been constructed upon the far end of the training fields. There were half a dozen lodges each nearly a quarter mile in length. The seams had been braced with metal strips riveted into the wood. The smell from the giants permeated the entire city.
'Do you suppose they're already inside sleeping?' Ethan asked.
Levi looked in every direction. 'I hope so. They're certainly not running around out here in the city anywhere. Either way it should provide a good diversion to keep Mordred's men busy while they get Gideon out.'
A group of soldiers passed by. Ethan and Levi tried to look occupied and didn't turn toward the others. The group passed on and took little notice of them. 'Are you sure that rat told you right?' Levi asked.
'Dung sent the little rats into the dungeons to make sure,' Ethan said. 'They assured him that only one prisoner was kept there and the description matched Gideon's. I don't think the little guys would lie to Dung. They treat him as though he was their king.'
Levi rolled his eyes. 'Oh boy, King Dung. I'm sure that won't go to his head.'
'Let's get moving,' Ethan said. 'We need to find some barrels of lamp oil or something flammable to do this.'
'By the way, have you seen any demons yet?'
'Nothing so far,' Ethan reported. Levi started toward the lodges with Ethan following. They walked out onto the training fields. Vast areas of dying grass had been torn up in places due to all of the simulated combat.
Ethan noticed all of the weaponry Mordred was stockpiling behind the city walls and wondered who he intended to attack. Cleary, he had his men gearing up for something big. Mordred had the giant Anakims, massive engines of war, as well as his cavalry and his infantry. His target would have a tough time defending against all of this.
Fortunately the fields stood all but abandoned with no one guarding them. This gave Ethan and Levi an easy trip to their targets on the far side of the field. They passed a range where cannons, muskets and other shooting weapons had been assembled.
Levi paused. 'Ethan, look!' He grinned fiendishly, patting a stack of wooden barrels standing next to the cannons and muskets. 'Gunpowder, my boy!'
Ethan smiled, then looked at their route to the lodges standing about one hundred yards away. 'It looks all clear, doesn't it?'
'As far as I can tell, but we'd better hurry,' Levi said. 'We don't want to be caught carrying barrels of gunpowder around.'
Ethan thought about the likelihood of getting what they needed over to the lodges without being spotted. 'I've got an idea. You go on over there and keep watch for any guard patrols while I take these up high away from the torchlight and bring them over.'
Levi nodded, looked around again, then started for the Anakim lodges.
Ethan realm shifted onto the spiritual plane again. He drew his sword from its place hovering at his side, then thought about what he needed to do and how to do it. The sword obeyed his thoughts, transforming into a long length of chain.
Ethan whipped the chain toward the stack of gunpowder barrels, and it lashed itself over and around them. The chain snaked its way throughout, forming a net that surrounded all of the barrels. Ethan gripped the sword- chain and launched into the night air.
The chain intruded into the physical realm and picked up the stack of gunpowder barrels. To the naked eye, the barrels appeared to fly into the air as one unit and disappear high in the sky.
He carried them over the expanse toward the huge wooden lodges where Levi waited. Ethan searched for demons, but still found none anywhere within the city walls. Their absence became more disconcerting by the moment. Surely, all the demons hadn't abandoned the seat of Mordred's power. That would have been too much to hope for. In the back of his mind, Seth's warning echoed again. This is a trap, and Gideon is the bait.
Ethan carefully lowered the barrels of gunpowder to the ground next to Levi. The captain stood in shadow on the side of the first lodge, watching for guard patrols. He smiled in fascination as the stack of barrels descended and came to rest quietly on the ground. Ethan appeared a moment later. 'I didn't see anyone,' Levi said.
'Me neither, not even demons,' Ethan said. 'It's strange. They were so adamant about protecting these giants aboard the slaver ship before.'
'Well, they're inside Mordred's city now,' Levi mused. 'They wouldn't have any reason to protect them now.'
Ethan nodded though for some reason he felt unconvinced.
'Anyway, it's too late to worry about that now. We're trying to draw everyone's attention.'
Ethan withdrew the cork stopping the top of two of the barrels. 'I'll spread this one over the lodges while you plant the other barrels. He disappeared again. Levi watched as the two uncorked barrels floated upward in Ethan's invisible grip and flew out of sight over the roof.
Ethan tipped the first barrel horizontally so that the grains of black powder rained down over the roof of the first lodge. When he felt enough had been dropped there, he moved on to the next roof. Within ten minutes, he had distributed the contents of both black powder barrels over the lodges. Then, he came back to meet Levi.
The captain hustled back from behind the first lodge just as Ethan materialized again. 'Are we all set?'
